Apple 1 million iPhones sold in June-September 2007

Apple Incorporated has sold one million iPhones in less than three months of its launch. The iPhone is Apple’s first mobile phone.

Apple has said it sold its 1 millionth iPhone on September 9, 2007, ahead of its goal of September 30, 2007. The milestone came less than a week after Apple cut the price of iPhone by a third.

The Apple iPhone – which is a mobile phone, digital music player and portable Web browser all rolled into one device – received worldwide media attention when it was first launched in late June 2007.

However, the device is so far available only in the United States through an exclusive contract with AT&T Incorporated.

But several hackers are working on ways to ‘unlock’ the iPhone so that it will work on other networks. One method requires opening the phone’s electronic guts and soldering certain components.

George Hotz, a teenager from New Jersey, the United States, had posted step-by-step instructions on the internet in August 2007 on how to ‘unlock’ the iPhone and use it on a rival carrier’s network by taking the phone apart and soldering various components.

Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Incorporated, has said it took almost two years for the company to achieve the 1 millionth milestone with iPod.

He had announced a week ago that Apple was discontinuing a 4-gigabyte version of the iPhone and dropping the price of its 8-gigabyte version to $399 from $599.

Sales from the initial weekend were running at a rate that was below some of the wilder estimates on Wall Street. In early September 2007, consumer data from research firm iSuppli suggested that the sales of the iPhone fell off sharply in July 2007 and were not on pace then to meet Apple’s one-million target.

Some analysts believed the price cut was an indication that Apple was worried that the device would not meet its sales goal. Some other analysts said the price cut was done in a hurry since the company the next day apologized to early buyers of iPhone and offered them a $100 store credit in response.

Apple Incorporated expects to sell 10 million iPhones in 2008.